The leather wallet is facing increasing competition from digital alternatives. In this report we explore the types of innovations shifting the payments ecosystem and identify how early adopters have been able to leverage new payment systems to drastically cut operating costs while giving consumers a better payment experience.

“What's going to happen in the shorter term is that people are going to use digital currency as a payment method, especially in developing countries where the payment infrastructure is not as robust. It's true that merchants have a pain point around payments today with the costs and the charge backs and the declined charges in certain countries. It's not great, but it's working. Whereas payments in many developing countries, payment systems are non-existent or the fees are exorbitant, so I think it's going to be adopted in developing countries first and that could open up a category of travel that is probably more reliant on cash right now.” - Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase

Report Overview

Payments lie at the core of every industry in the world and can become a complex topic, particularly for companies operating on a global scale dealing with virtually every currency. Changes in overall consumer habits can also have acute effects on the payments landscape. The vast move from desktop to mobile has been one of the greater challenges in the payment landscape, which has sparked a multitude of tech solutions looking to overcome the “mobile payment gap.” Mobile’s evolution of payment technologies has brought innovative approaches to the longstanding transaction models the travel industry has traditionally relied on.
With five billion unique mobile users, ignoring payments on mobile can significantly damage a business’ bottom line. Payment innovation has gone far beyond bridging the mobile payment gap, and recent technologies such as contactless, peer-to-peer, and digital currencies have allowed companies to reinvent the wheel when it comes to handling payments. While the local payments landscape is being reshaped, the Chinese market offers a totally different payment landscape than that of the western world. The Chinese outbound traveler struggles to spend money abroad, finding low acceptance of their typical payment methods. China is also driving innovation in the mobile space with a high adoption of payments through messaging apps, a phenomenon that has begun spreading to the west.
Throughout the report, we explore the most trending and innovative technologies reshaping payment habits among consumers, explore the impact new payment methods have had on travel, and explore potential future applications. We look at the adoption of new payment methods by consumers, such as contactless payments, mobile wallets, digital currencies, internet of things, and payments through messaging apps. Giving consumers a seamless way to pay has shown to increase their spending, yet these new payment technologies also allow for entire new business models to be designed around the new speed and efficiency they allow payments to have.